Nigerians have been called upon to facilitate inter-cultural and inter-religious cooperation to foster a culture of peace, love and service in the country. The call was made by Global Peace Festival (GPF), a peace-building programme, at a recent South-west sensitisation seminar in Lagos.
Director of the programme, Mr. John Okon, said GPF is a flag of reconciliation among Muslim and Christian believers as one family under one umbrella of God. According to him, facilitating peace through inter-faith moves would bring religious crisis and other crises to an end in the country; motivated by humanitarian concern.
He said a programme would hold in October, which would address the urgent issues of common cause and reconciliation among all cultures and faiths, rooted in the vision of one family under God as they share a common heritage, which is the original source of human rights and human dignity.
Okon said religious faiths have been instrumental in awakening human consciousness to universal ideas of conducts and it has decisively shaped world civilisation based on human virtue, compassion in morality, Buddhism, ethics, love for God and one’s fellow man in Christianity, adherence to basic laws in Judaism, devotional obedience in Islam and mystical reverence for life in Hindu and Jain traditions.
“GPF advocates a new view of interfaith cooperation, calling on religious leaders to move beyond mere tolerance by affirming universal principles common to all faiths and also for the realisation of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”
Tracing the history, Okon said GPF has engaged millions of people on the six continents and it empowers youths, while tapping the innovations of civil society partners, the resources of business community, the shared of values of faith-based organisations, and the expertise of government agencies and universities.
Source: www.thisdayonline.com
